g6 TOBACCO AND ITS EFFECTS. 



An important point in connection with the tobacco- 

 habit yet remains to be discussed, important as having a 

 bearing upon immense pecuniary interests, i. e., its effect 

 upon Hfe-assurance. Every one who has ever made 

 application for a pohcy of this kind must have observed 

 that considerable stress is laid upon the physical condition 

 and general health of parents and other relations. The 

 reason for this is obvious : the applicant may not at the 

 time of insurance have exhibited any failure of power ; but 

 the examiner by his survey of the family- history, espe- 

 cially that of the immediate progenitors, obtains the means 

 of judging with tolerable accuracy his power of resisting 

 strains, of combating with success any morbid influences 

 to which he may be subjected. By means of auscultation, 

 and other methods of examination, many points of the 

 physical health can be determined with absolute certainty, 

 but there are as yet no special tests by which the condition 

 of the brain and nervous system can be ascertained; 

 hence the inquiries into parental conditions have an im- 

 portance in this direction also. If now there be any 

 truth in the ideas put forth in a previous portion of this 

 paper, in regard to the possible inheritance of the tobacco- 

 habit, the importance of the whole matter in relation to 

 assurance will be readily apparent. Space does not admit 

 of any further discussion on this subject ; it must sufhce 

 us if we have called the attention of insurers and insured 

 to a point which we beheve may yet assume vast im- 

 portance in the consideration of their relations to each 

 other. 



In conclusion, I have to call attention to the informa- 

 tion contained in the pages which follow these — informa- 

 tion worthy of the closest attention, whatever may be the 



